The German Conservatives (CDU/CSU) and their ex-opposition party the Social Democrats (SPD) signed a 185 page agreement on the formation of a “grand coalition” on 27 November 2013 which was resulted from five weeks of strong negotiations.
The following declaration on a financial transaction tax (FTT) has been included by the proposed coalition agreement: “We want to speedily implement a financial transaction tax with a broad base and a low tax rate through the EU’s enhanced cooperation procedure. Such a tax should, as far as possible, cover all financial instruments, in particular shares, bonds, investment units, currency transactions as well as derivative contracts. We want the tax to be designed so as to reduce avoidance. At the same time, it will be necessary to assess the impact and avoid the negative consequences of the tax on pension instruments, small investors and the real economy, while suppressing undesired forms of financial transactions.”
